They parked in the street, blocking the single lane since it was too narrow to pull off onto the curb. The driver stayed in the car while Kaiba, Yugi, and company disembarked onto the poorly lit sidewalk. Jounouchi met them at the mouth of the alley, ducked to murmur to Yugi, though he didn't take his eyes off Kaiba as he did.

Kaiba ignored that wary look, partly because it was just the bonkotsu, mostly because he was preoccupied with trying to figure out how a dragon the size of Red Eyes managed to fit in the close confines of the alley. One would think the wings would make it impossible.

Red Eyes Black Dragon, looming behind its master with its scarlet eyes glowing in the shadows, dipped its spiked head in an unmistakable nod to Kaiba. Kaiba steeled himself against the impulse to bow back. He was not going to start respecting figments of his overtired brain. Especially when they belonged to Jounouchi. Yugi's cards, however, being figments themselves, had no such compunctions, running or bouncing over to greet Red Eyes with distracting squeaks and waves.

"Yo, Kaiba! You there?" The bonkotsu was right in his face, snapping his fingers.

Kaiba tore his eyes from the hallucinatory spectacle, grabbed Jounouchi's arm and removed him from his personal space, with not quite enough force to actually snap his radius. "Where's the man?"

"Ouch." Jounouchi rubbed his wrist, then tilted his head towards further down the alley. "The guy's back there. Honda's making sure he's not going anywhere," and he flashed Kaiba a tight grin, an unexpectedly fierce expression that didn't correspond properly to Yugi's goofily naive buddies, though it did match the ferocity in the red eyes of his dragon. "He's not talking to us," Jounouchi went on, "but we figured you'd want a crack at him before we handed him over to the police."

"How do you know this is the right man?"

"Besides that we talked to the guy who sold him the taser that took out Mokuba's bodyguard? He told us he was the one who did it. He was boasting about the job until he realized our interest was--personal, and then he shut up.

"But, listen, Kaiba." Jounouchi took his arm, then realized what he was doing and let go before Kaiba could throw him off again, went on, "You should know--this guy, he's the one who actually snatched Mokuba, but he was hired to do it by someone else. He might not know where Mokuba is now--"

"But anything he does know, he'll tell me." Anything was better than nothing at all.

"Kaiba-kun," Yugi said--dammit, there were two of him again, and Kaiba resisted the urge to rub his eyes, knowing it wouldn't help the way they both were looking at him. "Maybe we should let the police..."

Kaiba didn't even have to say anything; the pharaoh shook his head at his partner, and the smaller Yugi's mouth closed with a snap. Like Yugi could see his other self as well as Kaiba could. Wonderful. Now they were experiencing shared delusions. He'd thought at least Yugi had sense enough to sleep last night.

And he didn't have time for this. Growling under his breath, Kaiba strode past the Yugis and Jounouchi, deliberately not looking up at the Red Eyes, which graciously moved its massive, thorny talon to let him pass.

The thug was cornered behind a dumpster, a motorcycle blocking his best escape route, while Honda kept watch over him, cracking his knuckles. The man had already experienced a taste of that deterrent, Kaiba noted; he was a rough sort, with a disjointed nose that must have been broken a long time before, but some of his other bruises were fresh. Kaiba guessed that the marks that didn't match Honda's fists would fit to the bonkotsu's, judging by the way the man's eyes darted apprehensively to Jounouchi. He was big man, only a couple centimeters less than Kaiba's height and brawny to the point of being obese, but there was definite caution in his face as he looked at Yugi's friends, a wariness that was surprisingly close to being fear.

Surprising, little unexpected, maybe, but Kaiba hardly objected. Even if he wasn't about to say so to them.

The man's gaze finally made it to him, and he frowned. "Who the hell's this? I told you, I don't blab about my employers to any--"

"Hey, Kaiba," Honda said, as Jounouchi slouched over to join him.

"Kaiba?" The thug did a double take, staring at him. "What the hell is Kaiba Seto doing here--aw, shit, is this because the kid was coming out of your arcade place when I grabbed him? Are his parents suing?"

"He doesn't know who he kidnapped?" Yugi asked from behind him. Kaiba didn't need to look to know his violet eyes would be round with disbelief.

Jounouchi shrugged, not as surprised as his friend. "He just grabbed who he was hired to, ain't that right?" and he leaned over the motorcycle to elbow the man in the side, hard enough to make him wince. Must be a tender spot. Kaiba's eyes narrowed approvingly.

"Hey, I was working off a snapshot, I don't ask for names," the man said. "Not like I'm throwing them a birthday party, what do I look like, a clown? It was just a rich brat--"

"Next time you should ask," Honda told him. "That rich brat's name is Kaiba Mokuba."

"K-kaiba?"

Jounouchi nodded. "Right. And this guy here's his big brother. So, now that you're introduced," another elbow to the ribs, another enjoyable wince from the man, "we'll give you two a chance to...talk."

"Jounouchi-kun--" Yugi started to say, still behind him.

"Don't worry, Yugi," Jounouchi said. "I forgot to call the cops before, we should do that now. They'll be wanting this guy. Especially after what he was telling us before, about how this wasn't his first job. They'll probably come for him pretty fast. Maybe ten minutes," and he nodded at Kaiba, his smile hard, still fierce.

It would be more than enough. Kaiba nodded in return, his gaze fixed on the man, who was stammering, "H-hey, it was just a job--"

Honda headed after Jounouchi, stopping before Kaiba only long enough to say, "Don't feel like you have to or anything, Kaiba, but, if you could," and he glanced back at the man, with Jounouchi's same hard grin, "save some for us?"

Kaiba didn't answer. The thug had leaned back until his back was pressed against the wall behind him, like he was trying to will his hefty carcass through the brick. Almost like he could see the dragon looming up over him, black wings spread.

"Now," Kaiba said, evenly, as Honda's footsteps faded down the alley after his two friends'. "Who hired you?"

The man swallowed, straightened up to face him. Kaiba watched the squinty eyes going over him, measuring their respective differences in mass. Calculating his chances for escape. His thoughts were pasted all over his blunt face--Kaiba was no street punk like the others, just a spoiled rich kid...

Kaiba shifted, setting his stance. Try. Let him try. He needed the exercise. He needed more than the exercise. Almost four days, and this worthless excuse for street trash had been the one--if those meaty fists had silenced his brother--

"I said," the man said, licking his lips, rocking forward onto his toes as he readied himself to make his move, telegraphing the feint clear as a radio tower, "I'm not gonna sell out my--"

Whatever he was saying was drowned out by an echoing roar. Kaiba looked up and saw a gleam of silvery white scales reflecting the streetlights around the corner, the belly of the Blue Eyes White Dragon gliding over the alley, too big a hallucination to land.

At least it wasn't more of Yugi's cards. Red Eyes bellowed in response, though it sounded more like a greeting than a challenge.

"What are you looking at..." The thug also looked up, frowning. Saw nothing, of course, and took the chance to make his move, lunging forward with his fists swinging.

Kaiba smirked, a tight humorless quirk of his mouth, tore his eyes from the magnificence of his dragon, and stopped the man.

* * *

"You sure this is the right way, Kaiba?" Jounouchi asked, peering out the car's tinted windows. "To where the guy said he brought Mokuba?"

Yugi threw a glance at Kaiba, told his friend, "I'm sure it must be, Jounouchi-kun."

Kaiba saw no need to verify it, since he had told them so once already. Hardly his fault if the idiot hadn't been paying attention.

After Yugi and his friends' call, the police had turned up in less than ten minutes; eight, by Kaiba's watch. It had been enough time with two minutes to spare. They had waited only long enough for the police to put cuffs on the man, before getting into Kaiba's car. Or rather, Kaiba had gotten back in his car, and somehow not only Yugi but the bonkotsu as well had ended up in the back seat with him. The driver had pulled into the street before he could get them out again, and now that they were in motion it would be more trouble than it was worth to rid himself of them.

Though he was considering it. "But are we sure it's right, even if it's what the guy said?" Jounouchi asked, again. "What if he messed up and gave the wrong address?"

"He was looking pretty shook up," Yugi admitted.

"Yeah. Especially the way he was shrieking about dragons, or whatever that was." Jounouchi frowned. "What the hell did you do to that guy anyway, Kaiba?"

Maybe at the next red light he could just open the door and shove them both out. Honda was following on his bike; he could pick them up.

"But I don't think Kaiba-kun could have done that much," Yugi said. "I mean, he didn't look hurt--er, any more hurt--and it was only six minutes..."

"Hey, I'm not complaining," Jounouchi said. "The guy deserved it. Mokuba's our friend, too. I'm just curious about the dragons."

"Maybe he was just talking about, um, Kaiba-kun's coat," Yugi said. "It sort of looks like wings sometimes...?"

Maybe he shouldn't wait for a red light.

If Kaiba leaned back in his seat he could see the sky above the streetlights, the great luminescent white form gliding over the car. He shook his head, reminded himself that he wasn't supposed to be admiring hallucinations. Leaning back was a poor idea anyway. Just sitting down was bad enough. Too easy for his eyes to slip closed. He blinked them hard, automatically stifled a yawn.

"Shouldn't we have told the police where we were going, though?" Yugi asked.

"No," Kaiba said.

"Probably shouldn't yet," Jounouchi filled in the following pause, when Kaiba declined to. "If they went in with sirens, it'd let the guys who've got Mokuba know we're coming for them, if they're still around. And the cops would need to get a warrant first anyhow."

"We can take care of this ourselves," Yugi assured Yugi--the pharaoh was back, sitting on the seat opposite his other self with his arms crossed, and his expression crosser. "They will not get away with this."

"Whoever they are," Kaiba muttered, and realized it had been aloud when the others gave him odd looks. Not that he wasn't used to getting pointed looks from the lot of them anyway, but these regards were different, in a decidedly irritating way. Like they weren't actually angry at him--because they were too busy being pissed at those responsible. It better be that, and not something like they were feeling sorry for him. He wasn't that pathetic. Even insane. Even losing.

His hands were clenched around each other, fingers digging into the tendons. Almost four days and the thug hadn't even been able to tell him why. Just that he had been hired to kidnap a boy; for ransom, he had assumed, but hadn't bothered to inquire. It had gone smoothly, the man had said. He hadn't hurt the kid, just gagged him and tied him up and delivered him, and that had been the end of it, for him.

The end of it. Kaiba's hands had been around the man's thick neck; if the Blue Eyes hadn't growled...

"We will get Mokuba back, Kaiba," the other Yugi said, looking directly at him. Even the pharaoh didn't look angry at him for once, though he was still scowling.

Kaiba looked away. Not polite to stare. Especially at someone who wasn't there.

"We will," the original Yugi added softly. "It'll be okay. He'll be okay, Kaiba-kun."

Outside the car, overhead, the Blue Eyes roared, just as his driver said, "We're here, sir."


to be continued...

Welcome to fanfic cliche theater! Thank you for the reviews - was happy to see familiar names, Jean-Luc Lover (Picard, I presume?), SeaGull, Tawnykit, Yami no Mira - and everyone else, too, glad to have you on board for this one! And Joon, you like YGO as well? Hee! Hope I can continue to entertain. Kaiba's a terrifically enjoyable character to write, and I'm glad to know you think I'm keeping him sufficiently himself, hope I can keep that up. Though I can't help but feel guilty for turning Mokuba into the damsel in distress - I'm sorry, Mokuba, I do love you too, it's just that your nii-sama is so much fun when he's losing his mind...